pithecanthropus

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

n. An extinct primate postulated from bones found in Java in 1891 and originally designated Pithecanthropus erectus because it was thought to represent a species evolutionarily between apes and humans. Pithecanthropus is now classified as Homo erectus.

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

n. A hypothetical genus proposed by Haeckel to fill the gap between the anthropoid apes and man.

n. An extinct hominiform animal approaching the human type more closely than any of the anthropoid apes.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

Examples

Others claim that the pithecanthropus was the end of a special branch of the apes; the Heidelberg man the last of another extinct branch; the Piltdown man and the Neanderthal man, likewise the last of other extinct species.

If the scattered remains of the pithecanthropus were found in the sand only 40 ft. below the surface, and the rate of accumulation were no greater than the slow accretions that buried the mountain city of